Removable grille for ventilating apparatus



Oct. 16, 1951 s. H. KOCH REMOVABLE GRILLE FOR VENTILATING APPARATUS Filed June'2, 1949 YINVENTOR 6 USTAV H. KOCH ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 16, 1951 REMOVABLE GRILLE FOR VENTILATING APPARATUS Gustav HL-Koch, Springfield, Mass., assignor to '-Westinghouse "Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh,"la., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 2, 1949, Serial No. 96,653

12 Claims.

1 This invention relates to-ventilating apparatus, and relates more particularly to removable grilles for use across air flow openings of such apparatus. Grilles are commonly used across airzinlet and outlet openings of ventilating apparatus, including air conditioning apparatus, for the purpose of improving the appearance, and in some casesfor the further purpose of guiding and otherwise affecting the flow of air through suchopenings. It is necessary, or desirable, to remove such grilles from time to time, for cleaning the grilles or providing access to equipment mounted behind them.

of the wall, one or a pair of spaced leaf springs are attached at their inner ends to the wall with their outer ends extending towards the inlet opening. The springs haveapertures therein adjacent their outer ends. The grille has one or a pair of spaced lugs having projections, which may be provided by screw heads, that engage in the apertures in the springs when the grille is placed in its working position. An attempt'to remove the grille by graspin its upper'portionand exerting force on it to pull it away from :the wall will be unsuccessful since it will be locked in position 'bythe'engagement of the projections or screw heads in the .apertures inthe :springs. However, by grasping the lower portion of the grille and swinging it outwardly, the lugs on the grille will depress the outer ends ofthe 'springs so that the apertures .and'the projections will .move apart and will become disengaged, following which the grille can be easily removed.

A feature of this invention is that the components for attaching the grille are completely concealed from view.

Another feature of this invention is that no tools are required for attaching and removing the grille.

An object of the invention is to provide a grille that can easily be inserted in and removed from an air opening,'yet which will not accidently disengage from the opening.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fastening means for a. grille which will hold the grille securely against accidental removal, yet which can readily be released.

Another objectof .the invention is to provide .on the shaft of the motor.

'2 a fastening means for securing a grille in an air opening, which is concealed from'view.

. The invention will now be described with 'reference to the drawing, of which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a home ventilating unit embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken along the line II-II of'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken along the line IIII]I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary view of a portion of the unit illustrated by Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partially in section, of the unit, and illustrates'how the grilleis released from the unit;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section taken on the line VIVI of Fig. 5; and

Fig. '7 is a section similar to Fig.6, but showing the fastening means in locked position.

The home ventilating unit illustrated-by the drawing, is of the so-called wall box fan type, and has a casing structure, including the tubular wall H], which extends through a circular opening in the wall I2 to outdoors. Such a unit may be a kitchen ventilating unit=or any other unit which draws air from 'an' enclosure and exhausts it to outdoors.

The electric motor -13 is supported from the tubular wall ID inany suitable manner (not shown). The propellerfan blades l4 are mounted Upon rotationof the fan blades by'the motor, air is drawn into the'unit through :the 'inletgrille l1, and is exhausted through the conventional outlet structure 9 to outdoors.

The grille ll may be formed from a suitable plastic, and which,-inthe embodiment'of the invention illustrated by the drawingyextends-vertically across'the .face of the unit at-the inner surface of the wall l2, consists of the outer-ring member 24 and the inner ring members 25, 26 and 21 of increasingly smaller diameter, and which converge towards the horizontal axisof-the-unit. The ring members are interconnected by the radially extending ribs 28,29 and 39. The lowermost rib 13% has a recess 3| in its inner surface for receiving a chain guide 32 through which the chain 32a is extended.

The grille I! has the lugs 33 andSl-formedon the back sides-of the ribs28 and-29 respectively, and which extend rearwardly therefrom perpendicular thereto. The lugs are so arranged that I they just clear the inner surface of the tubular 3 wardly projecting portion 36 that reinforces the lug in transverse direction. 1

The lugs 33 and 34 have projections on their inner surfaces, spaced from the ends of the lugs and adapted to engage apertures in the grille supporting springs as will be described. These projections preferably comprise the heads 35 of screws that are threaded into the lugs.

For attaching the grille ll, the inner tubular wall 1 has spot welded to the upper portion of its inner surface at points equally spaced on opposite sides of the vertical axis of the unit, the inner ends of the cantilever leaf springs l3 and I9. As another feature of this invention, only the extreme inner ends of the springs are welded to the wall I wall ID. Thus the flexing portions of the springs are not subjected to the embrittling heat of the welding.

The unsupported outer ends of the springs I8 and I9 are biased towards the adjacent inner surface of the wall It], and are curved in the arcs towards the horizontal axi of the unit. The ribs 28 and 29 of the grille are in alignment with the springs 18 and I9 respectively, and conceal them from view when the grille is in its operating position in the unit.

In installing the grille I! in the unit, the recess 3| is placed over the guide box 32, and the lugs 33 and 34 are lined up with the springs I8 and I9 respectively. The grille is then moved inwardly until the lugs 33 and 34 extend between the springs l8 and 19 respectively and the adjacent inner surfaces of the tubular wall Ii], and the inner ends of the lugs contact the upper surfaces of the springs. The grille is then swung inwardly so that the inner end of the lugs depress the outer ends of the springs, and slide along the upper surfaces of the springs until the screw heads snap into the apertures 22 and 23 in the springs. The lugs will now rest upon the springs and support the grille therefrom as best illustrated by Fig. 3 of the drawing.

An attempt to remove the grille by grasping, and attempting to pull outwardly, its upper portion, will be unsuccessful since it will be securely locked in position by the engagement of the screw and the right hand edge of the aperture 22 constitutes an inwardly facing edge. Such inwardly facing edge and outwardly facing shoulder provide the locking action.

However, the grille can easily be removed by grasping it lower portion and swinging it upwardly about its upper portion. When this is done the lugs 33 and 34 are so tilted that their inner ends depress the springs 18 and I9 respectively, so that the apertures in the springs, and the screw heads 35, are inoved apart until they disengage, as shown in Fig. 6, following which the grille is easily removed.

The disengagin effort is minimized because of the leverage provided by the vertical dimension of the grille relative to the lugs 33 and 34.

It will be noted that as the lugs 33 and 34 are tilted, counterclockwise as shown in Fig. 6, the leaf springs l8 and [9 will tilt in the opposite drawing the lugs and the spring apart toward the outer ends of the springs. These screws having the heads 35 are disposed a sufiicient distance from the inner or unsecured ends of the lugs 33 and 34 so that the screw heads 35 are disengaged from the apertures 22 and 23 in the springs upon such tilting.

It is to be noted that Fig. 6 is a section taken on a plane located sixty angular degrees from the top so that the outer ring member 24 is spaced from the flange of the tubular wall l0, whereas Fig. 5 shows the uppermost portion of the member 24 bearing against such flange.

While I have shown and described an embodiment having two leaf springs and two detents, it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited but that any suitable number of leaf springs and like number of detents may be used. It is also to be understood that the invention may be used in connection with a rectangular opening in' which case one or a plurality of springs, with corresponding detent means, may be provided along the top of the opening and the grille.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. Ventilating apparatus comprising a grille support having an air flow opening, a grille extending across said opening, and means for supporting and latching said grille comprising a member on one portion of said grille extending inwardly of said support into said opening, a detent on the inner surface of said member, a cantilever spring attached to said support with its free end extending towards said opening, said member extending between said free end of said spring and the adjacent surface of said support, said free end of said spring being biased towards said member, and means carried by said free end of said spring for engaging said detent, said member being adapted when the opposite portion of the grille is swung away from the support, to move the free end of the spring away from the detent for disengaging same so as to permit withdrawal of the member from the opening.

2. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the fixed end of the spring is welded to the support, and a crosspiece extends across the spring between its fixed and free ends, and is welded at its end to the support.

3. Ventilating apparatus comprising a tubular wall forming an air flow passage, a circular grille extending across said wall at one end thereof, and means for supporting said grille from, and for latching said grille to, said wall, comprising a pair of spaced members extending from said grille at one side of the center thereof into said passage, detents on the inner surfaces of said members spaced from the ends thereof, cantilever spring attached to the inner surface of said wall with their free ends extending towards said grille in alignment with said members and between same and the longitudinal axis of the wall, said free ends of said springs being biased towards said members, and detent engaging means carried by said springs adjacent their free ends, said members being adapted when the opposite side of the grille is swung away from the wall, to move the free ends of the springs away from the detents for disengaging same so as to permit withdrawal of the members from the wall.

4. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which the fixed ends of the springs are welded to the wall, and crosspieces extend across the springs between their fixed and free ends, and are welded at their ends to the wall.

5. Ventilating apparatus comprising a horizontal, tubular wall forming an air flow passage and having one end forming an opening extending in a vertical plane, a grille extending across said opening, and means for supporting said grille from, and for latching said grille to, said wall, comprising a member on the upper portion of said grille extending inwardly of said wall into said opening, a detent on the lower surface of said member spaced from the inner end thereof, a cantilever spring attached to said support and having its free end extending below said member towards said opening, said free end of said spring being biased towards said member, and detent engaging mean carried by said free ends of said spring, said member being adapted when the lower portion of the grille is swung away from the wall to move the free end of the spring away from the detent for disengaging same for permitting the removal of the member from the wall.

6. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein a member, a detent, a cantilever spring and a detent engaging means are disposed on each side of and spaced from the vertical center line of aid tubular wall.

7. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the free ends of the springs are curved inwardly towards the longitudinal axis of the tubular wall.

8. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the fixed ends of the springs are welded to the tubular wall with crosspieces extending across the springs between their fixed and free ends, and are welded at their ends to the wall.

9. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the detent engagin means are apertures in the springs.

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10. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the free ends of the springs are curved inwardly towards the longitudinal axis of the tubular wall, and in which the detent engaging means are apertures in the springs adjacent their curved ends.

11. Ventilating apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the members extend from the rear surfaces of radially extending ribs on the grille, the ribs having surficient width to conceal the members and their associated springs from view from the front of the grille.

12. Apparatus comprising a grille support having an opening therein, a grille extending across said opening, and means for latching said grille to said sup-port comprising a member on said grille extending transversely therefrom into said opening adjacent the periphery of the opening, an outwardly facing shoulder on the inner side of said member and spaced from the free end thereof, and a relatively flat spring attached to said support, said spring bearing against the inner face of said member adjacent the free end thereof and having an inwardly facing edge adapted to engage the shoulder on said member, the free end portion of said member being adapted, when the opposed portion of the grille is swung away from the support, to move the spring away from said shoulder for disengaging said inwardly facing edge therefrom, thereby permitting withdrawal of the member from the opening.

GUSTAV H. KOCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,336,210 Druliner Apr. 6, 1920 2,008,965 Miller July 23, 1935 2,303,053 Kneedler Nov. 24, 1942 

